Companies Ramp Up Stock Compensation to Compete for Talent

Stock-based (equity) compensation has become more critical for companies competing for talent, new research shows.

Financial services provider Morgan Stanley at Work's new The State of Equity Plan Management 2022 Report is based on an October 2021 survey with responses from 408 leaders responsible for managing equity plan compensation programs at public and private companies with at least 100 workers. (Private companies may issue stock and have shareholders, but their shares do not trade on public exchanges.) Respondents included chief executive officers, chief financial officers and chief HR officers, among others. READ MORE

The Tremendous Disconnect Between ‘The Great Resignation’ and Pay

Companies’ most frequent response to “the great resignation” is to raise pay. In fact, average increases were around 3% at the end of 2021, and many employers are planning to raise increases this year.  

These small-looking percentages disguise how many dollars they represent among corporations and within our economy as the total jump in percentage increases they represent equals 54%. READ MORE

 

To Stay Competitive, Companies Are Increasing Pay in 2022

In response to today’s tight labor market, more companies are looking at boosting pay this year.

WorldatWork’s January 2022 “Salary Budget Quick Poll” revealed that organizations are increasing their previously planned salary budgets to address the competitive labor market and inflation. The poll, which had more than 200 compensation professional participants, reported an average salary budget increase of 4.0% and a 5.0% median. The WorldatWork “2021-2022 Salary Budget Survey,” which was released in August 2021, projected 3.3% average and 3.0% median for 2022 overall salary budget increases. The same study stated an anticipated 2.9% average and 3.0% median budgeted merit increases for 2022.  READ MORE

Win over job candidate with highly desired info: Salary ranges

If you want to know one thing job candidates want to find in your job listing, it’s salary ranges. How else will they be able to decide if your position, which seems perfect for them, will allow them to pay their mortgage, bills and other financial commitments.

Yes, we’re in the mist of the Great Resignation. Yes, it’s currently an employees’ market right now. And, unfortunately for employers, they have the upper hand when it comes to getting their demands met. READ MORE

New Report Shows Diversity Gaps in AI/Data Leadership, Compensation

Data, analytics, and AI responsibilities are led by those in roles that include chief data and analytics officer, chief data scientist, and head of machine learning or AI. But what backgrounds do these executives come from, how much are they paid, and how diverse are the roles they are being drawn to? It’s all found in a new Heidrick & Struggles’ “Data, Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence Executive Organization and Compensation Survey” report, which examines both organizational structure and compensation for executive roles with AI and/or data analytics responsibilities. The report was authored by Ryan Bulkoski and Kristin van der Sande. READ MORE

Understanding Equity Compensation

Corporations—particularly public corporations—typically include some form of equity (corporate stock) in their executives’ pay. That equity can take different forms, each with its own tax and investment consequences. Whatever the form of equity compensation, it typically vests—or becomes available to the employee—over a set time, often three to five years. The goal is to reward loyalty and make continued employment remunerative, with less turnover by more valuable employees. Employees who leave before that compensation vests never receive it. READ MORE

The Gender Wage Gap: Fact or Fiction?

“Women earn 82 cents for every dollar that a man earns” is a phrase we hear often reverberated from the left. There are rallies with signs, graphics on social media, and countless columns arguing for equal pay for women using this slogan. This must mean that women need the government to intervene on our behalf, right?

Pay discrimination on the basis of sex is already illegal. According to the Equal Pay Act of 1963: READ MORE

Soaring inflation means Congress must act now to boost the minimum wage

Earlier this month, minimum wage advocates announced a massive $25 million campaign to raise the minimum wage and eliminate the subminimum tipped wage in 25 states, with the goal of getting both done by the United States’ 250th birthday in 2026. This campaign couldn’t have come at a more important time. Record-breaking inflation and a 12-year-stagnant federal minimum wage have combined to leave countless working Americans struggling to afford their most basic needs despite working full-time jobs. Congress must act now to raise the minimum wage and lift millions of working Americans out of poverty. READ MORE

A Quick Wage-Hour Tip on Salaried Nonexempt Status

We don’t see a lot of wage and hour poetry these days, but if we did, it would probably look a bit like the foregoing example from an anonymous former U.S. Department of Labor official. When it comes to paying office workers who do not qualify for an overtime exemption, businesses often look for ways to treat those workers as much like exempt personnel as possible, including by paying wages in the form of a salary rather than hourly pay. Salaried nonexempt status ordinarily starts with good motives, but it frequently ends with claims for unpaid overtime. In this month’s Time Is Money segment, we explain that although paying overtime-eligible employees on a salary basis is a lawful, available option, it comes with significant risks that an employer must understand and navigate in order to pay these workers correctly. READ MORE

Why Pay Equity Matters for Manufacturers and How Manufacturers Can Proactively Reduce Risk

Pay equity is a critical issue for employers — and it should be top of mind for those in the manufacturing industry.

A number of states enacted laws designed to strengthen equal pay protections and improve pay transparency in 2021, and more are expected to follow. These laws reflect a continued and growing focus on the “gender pay gap” and a growing risk for employers that do not take steps to address any inequities in their own workforce. READ MORE

UPS slashes pay for part-time workers as profits grow

Thousands of part-time workers at the United Parcel Service (UPS) around the US were recently informed that their hourly wages would be cut, eliminating raises implemented in 2021 at some hubs as a means to attract and retain workers in the tighter labor market.

Alex Sanchez, a part-time UPS worker in Ontario, California, for one year, said part-time workers at his hub had their base rate increased in 2021 from $15.33 an hour to $18 an hour. READ MORE

Did wages keep up with inflation in 2021? Only for the wealthy, analysis shows

The hottest inflation in four decades is inflicting financial pain on millions of Americans, but no one has been harder hit by rising consumer prices than the lowest-income households, according to a new analysis published on Tuesday.

Findings from the Penn Wharton Budget Model, a nonpartisan group at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, show that although increases in wage earnings last year offset the higher cost-of-living due to inflation for most households with incomes between $20,000 and $100,000, that was not the case for the poorest Americans. READ MORE

Most US Employers Plan To Hike Pay and Address Pay Equity in 2022

If there was ever a time for employers to offer financial incentives to workers, it’s now, with millions of workers voluntarily leaving the workforce, the U.S. facing a massive labor shortage and American consumers grappling with the highest inflation rate in decades.

The vast majority of employers plan to respond by hiking their base pay rates this year, with many offering larger-than-normal raises, according to a new survey from Payscale. READ MORE

Companies speed up salary hikes, front load stock vesting

When Amazon announced changes last month to attract and retain talent, analysts tended to focus on the big jump in its base salary, from $160,000 to $350,000. But in another change, the company reportedly is also speeding up its stock vesting, which would enable some employees to access the value of their equity holdings much earlier, including in some cases under a monthly vesting schedule. Prior to the change, vesting was back-end-loaded, at a rate of 5% after the first year, 15% after the second and 20% every six months over the next two years. READ MORE